THE THINGS THAT I NEVER MANAGED TO THROW AWAY

CURIOCITIES

I have been furiously de-cluttering in an effort to free up space and unblock the way to new adventures.  It was in this spirit that I was rummaging through the loft and the  shed for things that no longer served a useful purpose. During this process, I unearthed some lost memories as well as objects, notably a series of wood and mixed media works.  

The constructions or toys, automata,  call them what you will, were inspired by some vague sense of Victorian aesthetic, Gipsy Balkan sideshows and all manner of bizarre storytelling, and mysterious objects that I saw as a child and never possessed. My interpretation of these often strange things came together to create a series of objects, which now, many years on after their conception (there were hundreds actually, but only a few survived or were not sold off), seem equally mysterious.  

I cannot recapture the enthusiasm with which I spent hundreds of hours making these things. To me, they now seem like a diary that one finds; full of lost thoughts and ideas, and descriptions of days that have long since faded from memory. I looked at these forgotten dusty objects and decided that the past can sometimes still surprise us and lead us to new insights and discoveries. Here they are, or at least some of them, repaired, cleaned up, even 'enhanced'. What I have avoided is spending too long on repairing some of the most damaged. I have tidied them up and brought them out of their dark hiding places. 

You can make your own minds up as to whether my efforts were worthwhile, or these objects really should have been relegated to a vague memory, and the local recycling plant.

I start with 'Zoltan'. Made from an old fence and supports, a drawer handle, plaster and some highly varnished paint; he clutters as you turn the handle anti-clockwise.  Rough and naive, it is not a pretty thing, but perhaps, as the adage goes: 'Beauty is in the eye of the....' Well you get the picture. Enjoy...or not. Here they come.... I present 'ZOLTAN' the magician.